Edit page | Page history | Printable version

Synapses

Specialized junctions at which a neuron communicates with a target cell. At classical synapses, a neurons presynaptic terminal releases a chemical transmitter stored in synaptic vesicles which diffuses across a narrow synaptic cleft and activates receptors on the postsynaptic membrane of the target cell. The target may be a dendrite, cell body, or axon of another neuron, or a specialised region of a muscle or secretory cell. Neurons may also communicate through direct electrical connections which are sometimes called electrical synapses; these are not included here but rather in gap junctions.